The world governing body FIA will allow Kenya to combine the World Rally Championship (WRC) event with the African Rally Championship (ARC) round during the 2020 Safari Rally.

According to a competitor memo from the WRC Safari Rally Project Secretariat, the global body will also grant a dispensation for the ARC to follow the full route of the WRC event over three days, running the full competitive distance of 316km. ARC events are normally 2 days long with a maximum distance of 300km.

The Safari Rally, which is returning to the WRC this year after an 18-year hiatus, will count towards the fifth round of the ARC and the KCB Kenya National Rally Championship from July 16-19.

Competitors participating in the ARC part of the WRC Safari Rally are required to register for the ARC 2020 through https://registrations.fia.com/rally. The ARC registration is free of charge and only when registered will these cars qualify as National/Regional cars.

Group N cars (complying with Appendix J-article 254 / 2019) or modified with the old Group R4 kit (complying with Appendix J-article 260 / 2018) are not eligible in WRC event anymore.

For the 2020 FIA African Rally Championship part of the WRC Safari Rally the FIA has granted Kenya a dispensation to use Groupe N4 cars (R4 kit) complying with the above articles as National/Regional cars.

The only way to accept such cars in WRC, would be that they are entered as National / Regional cars. And all drivers entered in this class must register for the FIA African Rally Championship 2020 using the FIA portal.

Those cars must be complying with article 253 from Appendix J (2020) according to the memo.